Mosaic

August 25, 2018

(Note: this is a piece I wrote for a course I’m doing by Martha Beck called “Write Into Light”.)

Dear Broken One,
I can see that you have loved a man for many years. Even though throughout the years, there have been many happy times, both have you have also seen many struggles that might have driven other people apart. Each time you both made it through, you would look at each other and think how lucky you were to have someone in your corner who would stick through the rough patches and love you so completely.

Then the roughest patch of all hit. This man you loved for so long has told you he is no longer in love with you. Despite his transgression, you are committed to this man because you understand that people fuck up. You cannot believe that he is willing to walk away from the life you both worked so hard on building. You try for months to get him to return to his previous self. You spend many days in shock and disbelief that this stranger comes and goes as he pleases with such callous disregard to you.

You find that alcohol helps numb the pain. The intense grief that you feel overwhelms you and the only thing you know to do is to retreat within yourself. You feel broke -shattered into a million pieces. You don’t know if you will ever feel whole again. The one thing you do know is that this pain you feel absolutely has to fucking stop. There is never any real intent to end it all. There is no note left. You want the life you thought you had returned to you but you know that life? It’s gone forever and you feel it is being replaced with a future that is scary and lonely.

You drink the peppermint schnapps straight from the bottle as you stare at the stars. The universe feels so vast and you feel like a speck that can be easily swept away and forgotten. You take the pills that the doctor prescribed to you to help you sleep. You remember thinking that not waking up would be a gift.
The next day you awaken anyway. The disappointment hits at the same time as the grief. You do not know how many more days you can take living this life. But, you do – live this life.

And I want you to know that this life is completely worth living. You will discover that you have courage to fight for yourself in the way that you used to fight for your children. That your mama bear will come out to fight this battle to show you that you are beautifully resilient and worthy of so much more. You will need to pull from deep within yourself at your deepest moments of despair and remember that this pain you are feeling is finite.

I will be here waiting for you on the other side. You are no longer broken, dear one, rather you are a beautiful mosaic of this life you have lived with its joy, pain, happiness, and grief comprising of your pieces.